RBS today priced a $415.5 million CLO for H.I.G. WhiteHorse Capital, according to sources.

The transaction is structured as follows:

The non-call period runs to February 2015, while the reinvestment period runs to February 2017.

Including WhiteHorse’s deal, and a $372.5 million deal that priced yesterday for Oak Hill Advisors, CLO issuance in the year to date stands at $53.5 billion, excluding static deals, according to LCD. Issuance for December totals about $7.25 billion. — Kerry Kantin

U.S issuers printed $465 billion of new leveraged loans in 2012, 24% more than in 2011, when $375 billion in deals crossed the goal line. That’s the third-biggest year of primary loan production, behind 2006 and 2007.

The market has been especially hot in the fourth quarter, amid a largely stable macro environment and demand-rich technical conditions. All told, new-issue loan volume climbed to $136 billion during the final three months of 2012 – the most since the first quarter of 2011, when quarterly activity reached a post-credit-crunch high of $141 billion – from $126 billion in the third quarter.

LCD’s full leveraged loan volume numbers will be published for subscribers later today. In that story we’ll detail

There is much to be positive about when looking back at 2012. The European high-yield market grew, there were more new opportunities via debut issuers, appetite for periphery-exposed credits started to recover, and the asset class is on deck to finish the year with a whopping total return of 26.18%, through Dec. 13, based on the BofA ML European High Yield Index. Leveraged loans have also fared well. As of Dec. 13, YTD total return for the European Leveraged Loan Index (ELLI) stood at 9.78%, which is a significant improvement from last year, when the ELLI finished 2011 at 0.72%, and similar to 2010, when the Index returned 9.85%.

So far so good then, but the bad news is that a total return of more than 20% for high-yield is a difficult benchmark to top. In the secondary, this has meant that some prices are at their all-time highs, leaving a lot of room to the downside. At 102.75 (based on Bloomberg pricing), yielding 6.62%, LCD’s high-yield flow-name composite is at the highest level since mid-2011. The iTraxx Crossover Series 16 began the year at around 750 and tightened to 500 before rolling into Series 17, which widened out post-roll and hit a peak of 752 in May. Since then, Series 17 and then Series 18 have largely moved south, with the Crossover now marked below 450.

Credit Suisse yesterday priced a $415.29 million CLO for Black Diamond Capital Management, according to sources.

The terms of the transaction, which is the asset manager’s first CLO to price since the credit crisis, is structured as follows:

The transaction was upsized from $363 million. Credit Suisse and Natixis acted as placement agents.

The reinvestment period ends in 2016 and the non-call period ends in 2015, according to the S&P presale report.

With Black Diamond’s CLO, as well as a new deal from MJX Asset Management, issuance in the year-to-date rises to $52.7 billion, excluding static transactions, according to LCD. Issuance in December, meanwhile, stands at $6.46 billion. – Kerry Kantin

Hostess Brands is facing some pushback on its plan to use $30 million in financing provided by Hilco, the liquidator it hopes to use in winding-down its real-estate assets.

GE Capital, the agent for lenders behind Hostess’s $50 million in asset-backed loans, filed an objection to the deal this week, arguing that as currently worded, the Hilco plan would allow Hostess to liquidate GE’s collateral without its consent.

At the time of Hostess’s Chapter 11 filing, on Jan. 11, $50 million remained outstanding under the ABL agreement, secured by a first-lien interest in, among other things, Hostess’s receivables and inventory. Since then, Hostess has paid off $25 million of the outstanding principal. But when the company officially moved into liquidation, on Nov. 29, the debt became secured by all of the company’s assets.

GE contends that under its most recently negotiated agreement with the company, Hostess is required to pay down the rest of the ABL debt in full by Jan. 4. But in its proposed agreement with Hilco, Hostess “seeks to renege on the deal and have the court find that they need not apply the proceeds from the proposed Hilco Agreement to pay down the ABL debt,” GE said.

“This court should reject such a blatant violation of its prior orders and the debtors’ efforts, with support from the DIP agent, to make an end-run around the clear language and effect of the final winddown order,” GE said.

A hearing on the Hilco agreement is scheduled for Dec. 21, before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain, in White Plains, N.Y. – John Bringardner

Loan mutual fund assets under management expanded 2.7% in November, to a record $88 billion, topping the short-lived mark of $85.7 billion from a month earlier.

All told, loan fund AUM grew 25.9%, or $18.1 billion, during the first 11 months of 2012, from $69.9 billion at year-end. That compares to a 28.2% increase, or $15.3 billion, during the same period in 2011.